Our community lost a beloved friend and a wonderful source of island history, when Ted Spurling died on January 27 after battling a long illness. With his Cranberry Report, he kept us up to date with weather observations, community happenings, and memories of years gone by. From a few islanders with whom I spoke, he is remembered for many things including a gentle mischievousness and a wide range of skills. I hope these memories will trigger some of your own, and that along with your sadness you will smile in remembrance of Captain Ted Spurling.
Rick Alley recalls that Ted continually maintained his captain’s habits, even aboard his lobster boat. Ted always gave the customary one long blast of a horn to signify leaving the harbor, but with his own twist. In the late 1950s, his horn was one of a kind, sounding a loud long “aaooogah.” While some boat owners used stools aboard their boats for sitting and resting their legs, Ted fashioned a swing to sit on while driving to the next gang of lobster traps. When lobster buoys were carved from cedar, Ted had a lathe for turning out his buoys. He was the first on the island to build a wire lobster trap, much to the humor of the other fishermen. Wire traps are now state of the art in the lobster industry, and wooden traps are obsolete.
Warren Fernald recalls a story of Ted in his boyhood, sitting around the warm stove with his family, enjoying a quiet evening. His mother was knitting while the cats slept nearby. Ted was reading a magazine, and his father, Clarence, was also reading, tipped back in his rocking chair with his feet propped up on the Philco cabinet radio. Apparently the placid scene was a little too calm for young Ted and he let his magazine drop to the floor with a loud smack, upsetting the cats, who jumped over his father’s chest, startling his father into tipping right over. From quiet to chaos in less than a minute. “I don’t suppose I should have done that,” is the quote that Lil Alley and Ann Fernald credit to Ted after many of his tales. When hanging May baskets used to be a common practice among the island school children, handmade baskets would be worked on for weeks to fill with flowers or treats and then secretly hung on the doorknob of a special friend on the first day of May. Lil recalls Ted filling his May baskets with odd items such as “doodles,” the slimy sea creatures that dwell with clams under the sand. His sense of humor was frequently evident aboard his boat, as in the time he hid below the rail when the Islesford Ferry was about to pass by. The tourists on the ferry got to see a “real lobsterman at work” as he popped up from below with a bandanna on his head and a bait knife between his teeth. Visual memories of Ted are shared by many. Ted and Cara out for walks together on the island, always hand in hand, Ted on the mailboat, with his worn wooden fid and lengths of cotton twine, his hands rhythmically weaving and tying the Turk’s head knots that would become bracelets or key rings, and Ted accompanying boats in the harbor, as they traveled back and forth while he adjusted the accuracy of a new compass. In January, Stefanie Alley took a course in Ellsworth to qualify for her captain’s license. During her three-week stay at the Colonial Inn, she was able to visit Ted for talks about navigation and such. Ted passed away just before Stefanie took her final test. She not only passed the test, but received the highest grade in her class. One captain leaves, a new one returns, and life in the Cranberry Isles moves forward.
Extremely cold temperatures during the week of January 12 caused changes to the daily routines of our town. The 3:30 mailboat run from Northeast Harbor was canceled two days in a row due to the combination of high winds and severe cold. The mail schedule was unaffected, but workers from off-island could only manage a two-and-a-half-hour workday before returning to the mainland. On Friday morning the 7:30 mail boat was canceled because the engine’s cooling system had frozen. When folks at the Cranberry General store heard that someone on Islesford needed to get to the doctor, Scott Bracy came over in his father’s boat to help. The boat was one of the few around that was warm and running.
On January 18, when Gail Stanley was having some complications after recent surgery, her brother Richie called David Thomas looking for a way to get Gail off the island to the hospital. With the zero-degree weather, the Coast Guard was called in to help. However, the tide was too low for the vessel to pull in to the town dock. David Thomas rowed out to get his lobster boat. It took 15 minutes to pound the thick ice from chain before he could leave the mooring. David picked up Gail at the town dock and took her out to the waiting Coast Guard boat. Neighbor helps neighbor on the islands, and we are grateful to David and Scott and all of the people who assisted their valorous efforts.
When weather canceled the Sunday afternoon boat on February 8, the ingenuity of some Cranberry Isles Democrats ensured that their caucus would go on…by conference call. Rick Alley stopped by on his way home to pick up Great Cranberry Island folks to attend the Democratic Caucus on Islesford. The wind was strong and the waves were high, so devoted Democrats had to turn back because there would be no afternoon boat on which to return. Speaker phones were used on both islands enabling 13 people to “attend” the caucus. Five people from Islesford at the library and eight from Cranberry at Ruth Westphal’s house. The majority of votes went to John Kerry, followed by Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich. Our town will be able to send one delegate to the Portland convention in May. Republican caucuses are held in our state from January 2 through March 19. At press time for this issue, no Republican caucus had been scheduled for the Town of Cranberry Isles.
– Barbara Fernald
Islesford, Feb. 11, 2004